Residents in one Fort Collins neighborhood have adopted a program to restrict parking, and more near the CSU campus may decide to adopt permits to ease parking congestion.

Dec. 12, 2013

A Colorado State University student walks on Juniper Lane in the Sheely neighborhood just south of Prospect Road on Wednesday in Fort Collins. The neighborhood is considering implementing the city's new Residential Parking Permit Program as a means to cut down on the number of nonresidents parking in neighborhood streets. Many of those are CSU students looking to avoid paying for a CSU parking permit. / V. Richard Haro/The Coloradoan

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Residential Parking Permit Program at a glance

What does it do?The program is designed to “protect residential streets” by reducing the number of nonresidential vehicles that park along them. Neighborhood residents vote to implement the program, choosing when to restrict parking to only those with permits. The city then puts up signs telling nonpermit holders when and where they can’t park. What do the permits look like?Your license plate is your permit. Each resident who lives in a neighborhood that adopts the program must register his or her license plate with the city at Parking Services, 215 N. Mason St. Those who go must bring a valid vehicle registration, current driver’s license and proof of residency (gas, electric or phone bill; monthly bank statement; etc.) How much does it cost?Residents’ first permits are free; the second is $15; the third $40; the forth $100; and the fifth $200. Revenues go to cover the cost of RP3 signs and enforcement. How do they enforce the program?Parking Services enforcement officers — the same you see in Old Town — drive through permit neighborhoods scanning license plates using a vehicle-mounted device. Tickets for parking in a zone without a permit are $25. Which neighborhoods have this program?So far, only the Spring Court neighborhood south of the Summit on College student housing complex. Residents of Sheely neighborhood will in coming weeks decide whether they want to adopt it. Parking Services is also considering approaching neighbors in: Laurel/Matthews streets, east of College Avenue and the CSU campus; Parker Street, by the University Center for the Arts; and the Mantz subdivision, west of downtown across from the CSU campus. Parking Services is only open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. What happens if I have unexpected guests over the weekend, can’t get a guest pass and they get a ticket?“We’ll definitely work with you to reverse that,” one parking official told concerned neighbors in a November city meeting. Where can I learn more?Visit http://bit.ly/FocoRP3 or contact Jamie Moyer, (970) 221-6617 or jmoyer@fcgov.com.

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Would you pay to park in your own neighborhood?

That’s one question some residents living near Colorado State University will have to answer following the birth of the city’s Residential Parking Permit Program.

Neighbors of the central business district, downtown and university campus have complained to the city for years that nonresident vehicles, whisking drivers within walking distance of work and school, have congested their streets.

More recent conversations about CSU’s proposed on-campus football stadium — and the associated puzzle of where fans will park on game days — moved the city’s usual response in a different direction, said Jamie Moyer, a city marketing and publicity technician.

The RP3 program, as city staff call it, was approved by the City Council and first adopted in November by neighbors living along Spring Court. The short street with its few duplexes is just south of Midtown’s more than 600-bed Summit on College student housing complex.

Faced with their own premium on parking spaces, Summit residents sought refuge on Spring Court, prompting resident complaints. A city study confirmed there was a problem, neighbors voted in favor of RP3 and today, signs tell motorists they can’t park there sans permit.

An informal Coloradoan canvass of the neighborhood yielded mixed reactions.

Casey Maguire has lived on Spring Court since July and on Monday said the parking situation “wasn’t much worse than it is now,” while looking from his porch onto the street dotted with several resident vehicles. While finding a spot before wasn’t a pain, he said going to Parking Services to register his vehicle’s license plate — which in Fort Collins is your permit — was.

Next door, Sonja Thompson didn’t consider parking too much of an issue but said prior to RP3 adoption “you would come home from work and it always seemed like you had to find a spot and squeeze in.”

Now she can always find a spot outside her door. Registration took about 15 minutes and was “no hassle,” she said.

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The Sheely conundrum

Depending on who you ask, the neighborhood south of Prospect Road and west of the Fort Collins Hilton — across the street from CSU — does or doesn’t have a parking problem.

City officials, who have gotten cranky calls and studied the Sheely subdivision’s streets, say it does.

“It’s truly bumper-to-bumper parked cars,” said Moyer, describing what she said is a common sight on Whitcomb Street, Juniper Lane, Birky Place and Sheely Drive weekdays from about 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The timing typically coincides with class schedules of CSU commuter students who park on the street and walk to campus.

In the coming weeks, residents of the subdivision’s roughly 189 homes will decide whether the RP3 program is best for their neighborhood. It’s important to note that Parking Services won’t put the program in place unless residents vote to do so.

But what makes one household happy may inconvenience another.

Some residents may need only one permit — the first of which is free — but families with four or five drivers could pay hundreds each year to register their vehicles. While also free, guest permits are required year-round for visitors and plumbers or electricians working on homes.

Neighbors must also decide what days and hours they’d like to restrict parking — if any — and where to draw the permit zone’s boundaries.

Some, who live on Wallenberg Drive and attended a city meeting about RP3 last week, said their street isn’t experiencing the same issues as those nearby and that they didn’t want to be subjected to restrictions. Considering the future’s unknowns is important in these discussions, Moyer cautioned, saying research of other permit programs suggests drawing a zone of fewer than six blocks can “push the problem” to nearby streets in the future.

If the parking permit zone were to include Sheely’s first four blocks, for example, nonresidents may drive deeper into the subdivision to hunt for parking. College students are willing to walk six to eight blocks from their car to campus, Moyer said, citing further research.

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Once drawn, permit boundaries won’t be re-evaluated until a year after their adoption. If it weren’t for that restriction, the city wouldn’t have the time nor money to study parking problems and launch the permit program in other neighborhoods, city officials told residents.

While some at last week’s meeting believed the program could bring relief, others worry about making life harder for students.

Bracing herself against Monday’s bitter-cold temperatures, student Sarah Bendix parked her car on Juniper Lane and made the icy trek up Whitcomb Street and across Prospect Road toward CSU’s campus.

Bendix said she rides her bicycle to class often but drives “every day” in the winter. She previously held a permit to park on campus but gave it up, saying it was too expensive.

She’s sympathetic to Sheely neighborhood residents’ plight and wouldn’t blame them for adopting parking permits. If they did, she would find another spot to park in another neighborhood free of restrictions simply because, she said, she has to.

“I’m just doing what I have to as a student at those prices,” she said, referring to the $234 cost of a CSU commuter student parking permit.

What neighboring cities do

Similar parking programs have been staples for decades in other cities, especially in university towns and major metro areas where people can pay thousands annually to park nearer to their homes. And now it’s part of Fort Collins life, as the rural town of memories past grows into its city shoes.

Boulder’s Neighborhood Parking Program has been around in one form or another since 1986 and includes 10 permitted zones in neighborhoods around downtown and the University of Colorado campus.

Residents, businesses and commuters can purchase annual parking permits for between $17 and $382. Those who have a permit can park in a zone as long as they want, while those without are limited to two or three hours, depending on the area.

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Demand dictates how and when zones grow; at least five neighbors must sign a petition to expand a zone, while creation of a new zone requires 25 signatures. Eric Guenther, the city’s assistant parking manager, said changes over time include asking commuter permit holders to start parking a few blocks away to reduce congestion on some “over-parked” blocks.

In 2011, the most-recent year such data are available, the city surveyed residents who live in neighborhoods where the permit program exists.

According to the Boulder Daily Camera, nearly half, 48 percent, said illegal parking has decreased and 47 percent said access to their homes has improved. About 44 percent said the desirability of living in their neighborhood has improved.

The city has issued nearly 14,000 citations for violations in Neighborhood Parking Program zones, according to its records.

While there are challenges, Guenther said the program “helps keep the balance of livability in the neighborhoods.”